


Rough Diamonds

by Tallulah



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Corgis, Gen, Mocking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25247053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallulah/pseuds/Tallulah
Summary: Katniss is not impressed by Effie's daemon... but the Capitol isn't impressed by hers, either.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Rough Diamonds

Everyone in District Twelve loathed Effie Trinket's daemon.

All right, it wasn't particularly unusual to have a dog as a daemon – in fact, I was surprised Effie didn't have something fluffier and sillier – but Effie's was so stupid-looking. It had these tiny short legs, like it was a footstool or something, and pointy ears like it thought it was some kind of wolf. And because Effie was from the Capitol, it wore sparkly jewels in its ears, and its fur was dyed pink, and it always wore a little hat and coat that matched whatever Effie had kitted herself out in.

“Oh, I see you're admiring Zirconium,” Effie said to me when we were on the train and I was staring at random things because I was trying not to start crying or screaming. “He's lovely, isn't he? He's called a _corgi_ dog. He's very unusual.”

Of course it would have a stupid name like Zirconium. I seriously considered breaking the taboo and kicking it while Effie wasn't looking.

Of course in the Capitol it was me whose daemon wasn't right. My prep team weren't happy at all about Fletch. “Such a shame,” they kept saying. “A mouse would have been workable... something sweet... but there's really nothing you can do with a ferret.”

“He's not a ferret,” I kept saying through gritted teeth. “He's a stoat.” 

Of course they never listened. Just kept on about how lucky Peeta's prep team were. “A bear is so perfect for a male tribute! Strong, but she's a lovely size too. So adorable! Imagine if she were dyed...” Peeta's prep team never did dye Emmer, though. I guess it would've been kind of harsh to throw someone into the arena with a hot pink or bright green daemon following them around.

Effie didn't like Fletch either. She kept worrying he was going to bite her. As if everyone outside the Capitol is so barbaric that we don't know about the taboo. “Maybe if you put him in your purse,” she said, once, thoughtfully. “His head could pop out... that might actually look quite fetching.” Fletch and I just managed not to roll our eyes at each other. 

And then everything changed. 

In District Thirteen it was very different. No one cared how sweet your daemon was, just whether it implied you were useful and whether it got in the way. Stoats don't get in the way. 

Dogs with ridiculously short legs, still half-dyed pink, get in the way a _lot_.

I'd sort of got used to Effie and Zirconium by then. At least Effie had talked to me like I was a real person, at least she'd been upset about the Quarter Quell. And, to be honest, people in District Thirteen giving Zirconium looks like he was some kind of freak, or not even bothering not trying to step on him, or asking loudly what possible use an animal with such short legs could be... It was part of what I was really starting to hate about District Thirteen. 

Zirconium's legs were so short that when he went down steps he sort of hopped. This hadn't looked too stupid when he had been following Effie striding down white marble Capitol staircases on her high heels. But him jolting down the endless staircases of District Thirteen to get to work or to the shelters, over and over, with more and more people rolling their eyes and then outright laughing...

I mean, didn't we have more important things to care about by now?

In the end Effie stopped and picked him up and strode through the crowd with her lips pressed together. Looking at him in her arms I realised he was quite big apart from the lack of legs. Quite big and probably quite heavy. Effie held her head high and acted like it wasn't a problem at all, like she _wanted_ to be carrying him. 

“Unusual-looking dogs, aren't they?” Plutarch Heavensbee said to me later. His daemon was a cat, twining her way around his feet at the moment. She would've looked good anyplace, probably, so I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd laughed at Effie and Zirconium. But he only carried on, “They were bred to herd cows originally, I believe.”

“Cows?” I said. “Them? But they're so short.”

“Exactly,” Plutarch said. “They could get in among the herd and snap at their ankles, get them moving. I imagine that's why they have such an imperious temperament, as well. They're accustomed to getting everyone to fall into line.”

“Oh,” I said. “Now I understand why Effie has him.”

It didn't mean I still didn't think he was a stupid-looking dog. “But really,” Fletch said to me, “you'd expect her to have one of those tiny dogs, the ones that you carry in your handbag. And it's not his fault the Capitol likes to paint everything different colours.”

“Right,” I said. “And at least she's stopped trying to work out how to make you look cute, too.”


End file.
